The year 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the nationwide pro-democracy uprising in Myanmar that sparked a brutal military crackdown. In February the ruling junta announced its decision to push ahead with its “road map to disciplined democracy” by holding a referendum on a military-sponsored draft constitution in May, to be followed by multiparty elections in 2010. The new constitution enshrined a leading role for the military in any future government. The 2010 elections would be the first since 1990, when the military ignored the results of a landslide victory for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

Families displaced by Cyclone Nargis, which swept across Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008, …

Khin Maung Win—AFP/Getty Images

Suu Kyi had been under house arrest for more than 13 of the past 19 years. In 2008, however, for the first time, she refused to meet the few officials permitted to see her, including Labour Minister Aung Kyi and the UN special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari. Her refusal to see Gambari underscored her opposition to his apparent backing of the junta’s “road map” process. After rejecting food supplies in August and September, Suu Kyi managed to wrest modest concessions from the military. In a move in late September apparently aimed at easing international pressure, the military junta granted amnesty to some 9,000 prisoners, though only a small number of them were political prisoners.

Tragedy struck in early May when Cyclone Nargis swept across Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta. The storm, which left more than 138,000 dead or missing, caused more than $4 billion in damages. (SeeDisasters.)

The economy remained weak, with real GDP growth estimated at 0.9% in 2008. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, inflation averaged 27.7%, owing partly to the surge in food prices in the wake of the cyclone. The fiscal deficit was about 4% of GDP, the highest in Asia. On the positive side, foreign exchange reserves doubled to $2 billion in 2008, and export revenues were buoyant at $3.5 billion, largely as a result of exports of oil, natural gas, and gems.

On the diplomatic front, China continued its substantial financial and political support for Myanmar’s beleaguered regime. During the April visit to India of Gen. Maung Aye (the second-ranking general in the junta), he concluded an agreement for an India-funded multinodal transportation corridor that would link northeastern India with Myanmar’s Sittwe port through the Kaladan River. Myanmar and North Korea engaged in several high-level contacts that raised new concerns about nuclear proliferation. The EU called for the imposition of an international arms embargo on Myanmar.

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